Jump
by Lilac peach
Summary: Life trapped in the Glade is becoming too much for Newt to handle. He can no longer bear the utter hopelessness he feels every day, so he enters the maze for the last time. Nalby oneshot. Death Cure spoilers


He hated it. He hated every waking second he spent trapped there, surrounded by the maze walls with no hope of escaping. Newt had been there for a year and a half now and he and his fellow runners were getting no closer to finding a way out. Every day when he came back from running, the feeling of hopelessness increased until it took over him. He'd never settled in the Glade as well as the others, it had taken him weeks to calm down after coming out of the box and months before he got a proper night's sleep. He concealed it well however and the other boys had no idea how close he was to losing it.

It was early evening and the maze walls would soon be closing for the night, it was now or never. Him and the runners had left the maze and drawn up their maps and he waited until everyone was inside the homestead having dinner. This was his chance. He ran across the Glade to the east wall and entered the maze. For the last time. He ran for at least an hour until he reached a dead end, the wall covered in thick ivy. The boys heart was racing as he thought about what he was about to do. He was terrified but his desire to end this life of entrapment overcame his fear and he began to climb up the ivy. His shaking hands gripped at the ivy and he pulled himself up, pushing with his feet. He kept scaling the wall until he was halfway up. This would be high enough. He looked down to the ground, head dizzy, knees shaking. _Stop thinking, just jump_ said the voice in his mind. His eyes watered as he thought of his friends he was leaving behind, the friends he was disappointing by giving up so easily. But he'd made his mind up, he'd had enough. It was time to jump.

_Meanwhile at the homestead_

Alby was eating the dinner Frypan had just prepared, as he chewed he registered that something was off. Someone was missing. Newt.

"Any of you shucks seen Newt tonight?" He said to the boys at his table.

"Not since we drew the maps earlier" Minho informed him. His face now becoming concerned like Alby's. Newt never missed dinner, he never ate much but he was always there.

"I'll go find him" Alby said, leaving the table. He searched the whole homestead, the map room, the blood house, the gardens and the deadheads. No sign of his friend. That meant there was only one place left he hadn't searched. The maze.

Before he knew it, Newt was falling and the ground got closer and closer at an alarming rate. Of course now was the moment he changed his mind, this was a terrible idea but it was too late. He screwed his eyes shut and felt his body smack against the hard ground. He felt nothing, was he dead?

"NEWT?" He registered a distant shout from somewhere in the maze, it was Alby's voice. He lifted his heavy eye lids but all he could see were the blurred shapes of the walls. His whole body was numb and he felt dizzy, then dark splotches consumed his vision.

"NEWT!" The shout was close this time, Alby had rounded the corner to see the boy crumpled on the ground, leg bent at an unnatural angle, a small puddle of blood round his head. That was when his heart momentarily stopped. He dashed over to Newt and gently touched his shoulder and the boys eyelids lifted slightly but he didn't seem to see the boy who knelt over him.

"Newt can you hear me?" Alby cried. Newt heard the voice but saw only black, his head was now throbbing painfully and his leg felt wrong. He tried to speak but let out a quiet whimper. His vision started to clear and he saw Alby kneeling by his side. _This wasn't meant to happen, you were meant to die you slinthead_ he thought.

"We've got to get out of here, the walls are gonna shut" Alby said "Can you move at all?" Newt focused on trying to shift the arm he was lying on but it shifted just a centimetre, the effort was too much. He shook his head slightly to answer Alby's question. "I'll have to drag you then", Alby gripped under Newt's arms and pulled him a meter or so but stopped abruptly when the boy cried out in pain when his injured leg dragged along the floor. Alby changed tactic and scooped the boy's body up into his arms, he was slightly taller than Alby but weighed nothing, he'd never shown much interest in food. "You're gonna be okay" Alby said, although it came out more demanding than reassuring. And with that he started running back out of the maze.

For Newt everything was blurred and spinning, making him feel queasy so he shut his eyes again. As Alby ran, a trail of blood was left behind them from Newt's head. The frail boy in Alby's arms seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, occasionally whimpering in pain and at one moment muttered faintly "please..let me..die". This broke Alby's heart.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" Alby screamed when he reached the east door once more and ran into the Glade. Boys spilled out of the homestead towards him. "It's Newt!", "Newt's injured" "Get the medjacks" various voices shouted upon seeing the boys. All Newt registered was the warmth coming from Alby's body, he was in so much pain but he felt safe in the fellow Glader's arms but then suddenly the warmth was gone. The medjacks had come out with a stretcher and Alby placed Newt's broken body onto it gently. The boy whimpered, unsure of what was happening

"A..Alby"

"I'm right here, it's okay" he responded. He felt terrible as he saw the medjacks pick up either end of the stretcher, making Newt cry out in pain. Newt heard distant voices over him, he felt lightheaded and his leg was causing him agony but then everything felt better, when Alby held his hand.

The medjack's worked through the night, cleaning Newt's wounds and binding them. He had passed out again but he was alive, and that was all that mattered to Alby. He didn't leave Newt's side and stayed awake the whole night, and refused to leave when the medjacks told him to go to get some sleep.

When Newt drifted into the darkness, for a moment he was happy, he'd finally got what he wanted, the peace of death. But then he woke up.

Alby had dozed off in his chair, head resting on Newt's bed. He heard a tiny groan and looked up to see Newt's eye lids slowly opening, squinting in the morning light.

"No" Newt groaned

"Newt! Thank God you're alive" Alby said

"I don't want to be..I was meant to die" The bedraggled boy groaned

"No, you listen to me you slinthead" Alby started, his anger suddenly coming out of nowhere "You weren't going to die, not while I'm around. I won't let you leave me" His voice quivered as he finished his rant and broke down into tears "I couldn't cope without seeing your shuck face every day, don't you dare do anything like this to me again!" He cried in a mixture of anger and sadness. "Promise me!"

"Okay, I promise" Newt said, giving Alby a faint smile. It was the hardest promise he ever had to make, when he was so desperate for death but he kept the promise for Alby. He didn't try to kill himself again. Although after Alby's murder by the grievers he had come very close, wanting to join the boy in death but he kept his promise. So when the time came, he requested that Thomas ended his life. He was finally at peace, and with the boy he loved.


End file.
